Another chance
by nonoza
Summary: i really like elena with elijah but i don't see how he stands a chance with the salvatore brothers in his way so i put elena in katherine's place as the 1st petrova doppleganger.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I've never written a period piece before and I have hated history since it was introduced to me in the... third grade was it? If its any consolation I've read Jane Austin. Okay that's not a qualification but I will do my very best.**

Elena Gilbert was no longer a Gilbert. She had been exiled to England. Her father had given her enough money to survive on for a month, if she exercised economy. Seventeen, or rather sixteen years of being an exemplary daughter and her severance was six dresses, one she was wearing, two pairs of shoes, a corset, a toothbrush and a washcloth. All packed neatly into a small suitcase by her very sad but unopposing mother. "Pardon me Miss," a male voice pulled her to present reality, "Do you need help with your bag?"

"Thank you, you're very kind," she handed it over, "I am Elena," she offered her hand.

"Trevor," he put his fingers under hers and gently lay his thumb over them. She curtsied. After a small nod he let her hand go.

"Do you know the country well?" she asked, "I'm looking for a place to stay."

"Why yes Miss Elena," Trevor nodded, "Right this way," he offered her his arm. Elena put her hand in the crook of it and they walked. "You are not from here," Trevor could tell by the accent.

"No, I am not," Elena said sadly. She was so homesick already. "I hail from America," she smiled.

"Welcome to England. I hope it won't be too much of a disappointment to one used to the land of dreams," Trevor smiled back. He could see the sadness in Elena's eyes. It was the very thing that drew him in. She'd stood there for at least ten minutes looking so lost and so sad she did not seem to notice the passage of time.

"I'll just have to bear it then, won't I?" Elena put her head on his shoulder without conscious thought, "Apologies," she removed it at once, "I'm just so tired," she explained. If she didn't want her stay in England to meet the same tragic end as her American existence she was to learn propriety.

"Perhaps it would be wise to rent a carriage then," Trevor came to a halt, "We have a long way to go and the sun is not on our side."

"I'm sure the walk is just what I need to get the blood going," Elena fibbed. There was no way she could afford to rent a carriage.

"I fear I won't be able to fend off danger if I tire myself so. Please allow me to rent a carriage Miss Elena," Trevor pleaded. He guessed that Elena's objection to the carriage was economic and ventured to be a gentleman. It was not polite to mention a lady's lack of fortune.

"You are very sweet," she blinked back tears. She could see what Trevor was trying to do. No one had been kind to her in a long time. It was the price she paid for bringing such shame upon herself and upon her family. "Thank you," she smiled. They rented a carriage and Trevor told her all about the countryside.

"How will you get home?" Elena asked. It was in her nature to worry about others.

"I'll walk," he smiled, "I live close to where you'll find lodging."

"It will make me very glad to have you as a neighbor," Elena replied. She told him about America as they journeyed through the countryside.

"Here we are," he helped her out of the carriage. It was a modest cottage with a small garden.

"Do you think they have any vacancies?" she asked when they were standing alone with the carriage going back to where it came from.

"I wouldn't have brought you here otherwise," Trevor assured, "I'm not that much of a cad," he smiled.

"I would never think that of you," Elena brushed his forearm, "And those are not the vacancies I was inquiring about."

"You're looking for work?" Trevor was surprised, to say the least.

"I must find some means of sustaining myself," she looked down.

"You're not an old maid," he shook his head at her, "You can't be older than twenty and, if I may say so, you're very beautiful."

"You think my time would be better spent looking for a husband," she started towards the little house.

"You don't?" he was puzzled. Elena was quiet. She was ruined even though no one on this continent knew it. How could she marry a man without telling him that she had borne a child out of wedlock? How could she expect him to marry her if she did? Worse, what if he was so appalled he spoke her shame to others? "Life is for living Miss Elena," he continued. She forced a smile. Life without all the people she cared about was empty.

"And I will live it better if we are friends," Elena stopped and turned to her companion when they reached the threshold.

"Then consider it improved," Trevor smiled and offered his hand to help her across. She placed her hand in his and walked inside. A stout, sweet-looking woman greeted them.

"Thank you Trevor," Elena curtsied.

"Pleasure meeting you Miss Elena," Trevor kissed her hand and took his leave. Elena took her dinner in her room. She didn't have the energy for a bath. The reality of her situation hit her like a ton of bricks. She collapsed on top of the covers and cried herself to sleep heaving painful sobs. Trevor walked home with a smile. Elena was a sweet girl. Despite her sadness she had managed to cheer him up. "Good evening Rose," he smiled as he walked into the little cottage the two shared. Rose looked at him pensively then looked down. "What have I done now?" he rolled his eyes. Trevor had been the kind of human who never turned a beggar away or passed a weeping woman without offering a shoulder. A trait that, in its magnified state, annoyed Rose to no end.

"You've angered my brother," the response came from Elijah, just outside the light cast by the candle.

"My Lord," Trevor bowed automatically.

"The Lord Niklaus is a little underwhelmed by his upcoming birthday party," Elijah stood deliberately, "This is not yet a problem but, knowing his temper, I'm sure none of us want it to become one."

"Of course not My Lord," Trevor shook his head.

"What are we going to do about it?" the original changed his stance to face both Trevor and Rose.

"We'll make the manor stunning My Lord," Rose promised, "A shipment of the finest wine coming in tomorrow. It- it was delayed but that's been sorted out now. We're back on schedule and everything will be ready in two days, if we have to work through the night to get it that way. Isn't that right Trevor?"

"Yes My Lord," Trevor nodded fervently.

"Anything you would like to add to your friend's efforts?" Elijah honed in on Trevor.

"There is a beautiful gem I brought for the Lord Niklaus," it just slipped from Trevor's mouth, "A woman from America, very beautiful."

"There is hope for you yet," Elijah gave a smug little smile. Trevor opened the door. Elijah exited with his sister and walked off into the night.

"That was cruel brother," Rebekah smiled, knotting her arm into Elijah's and leaning into him.

"I suppose it was," Elijah conceded, "But this is how you get people to do things. Torture one and the rest fall in line."

"Brutal but effective," Rebekah smiled wider at her brother's logic. The two walked home at a leisurely pace.

"What did you just do?" Rose asked her close friend.

"I panicked," Trevor admitted, "He scares me."

"Does this woman even exist?" Rose clutched her hair.

"Not for entertainment," Trevor hissed. Elijah was a good way away by the time they'd started talking but they were still afraid to speak up.

"She is if you don't want the wrath of the originals coming down on us," Rose put a heavy hand on his shoulder, "Your inability not to ramble and say things like 'we'd be happy to plan a party for Lord Niklaus' is going to ruin us Trevor. From now on, say as little as possible to and around Elijah. If you can't do that then let's move to the South Pole."

"They make really nice boots there," Trevor wasn't really joking. Being terrified of Elijah was ruining his life.

"Klaus would follow us there and kill us just on principle," Rosemary sat and put her head on the table.

"We'll get through this," Trevor rubbed her shoulder.

"Yes," Rose put her hand on top of his, "And when we do I'm going to beat you to a pulp."

"I deserve it," he nodded.

"That you do," Rose closed her eyes and moved to rest her head on their joined hands.

Some four miles from this family two brothers sat drinking wine. "Trevor has organized you some entertainment," Elijah mentioned.

"Five hundred years Elijah," Klaus sighed, "I've seen it all."

"I'm trying to cheer you up Niklaus," Elijah put down the glass he'd been cradling and not drinking during this entire conversation, "Try to enjoy yourself. Forget about the curse for one night. Be Niklaus the man, not the vampire, not the werewolf, just my brother."

"Not the bastard son of a dead adulterer," Klaus added.

"Forty eight hours sans bitterness and anger is all I ask brother," Elijah clapped his brother's shoulder.

"Since you ask so nicely," the blond polished off his wine. He snapped his fingers and a woman appeared.

"Niklaus," Elijah sighed as his younger brother put an arm around the woman's waist.

"Get off your high horse Elijah, you know well this is the fate that awaits the American you promise," Klaus moved his hand up her skirt and bit into her neck. His brother walked off quietly. Elijah's morality was ingrained in him. He could not watch this. But he had spent the past five centuries with his brother. He couldn't stop it either.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So I wanted to write this story that was the essence of Elijah, you know, smoking hot but chaste and smooth and did someone just turn on the furnace? Where was I? Yes, I want this story to be true to its characters but the snag is I'm used to doing it quick and dirty. I have tons of material for the tortured, Bridges of Madison County part of this story but trying to finesse the beginning is giving me writer's blue balls. **

After eating breakfast by herself and cleaning up by herself and packing her things away by herself Elena was feeling pretty lonely. So when she spotted Trevor coming she went running out to meet him. "Good morning Miss Elena," Trevor bowed.

"Good morning neighbour," Elena curtsied, "What troubles you?" she asked when she saw his sad expression.

"Nothing," Trevor tried to wave his guilt away.

"Would you like to take a walk with me?" Elena wanted to cheer her new friend up. She felt she would cry if he kept looking like that.

"I actually came here to invite you to a party," he smiled.

"A party is just what I need," Elena answered right off.

"Good," Trevor tried to sound enthusiastic through his disappointment, "It's tomorrow."

"But that's barely notice at all," her hand flew to her heart, "And I have no one to help me prepare. I would love nothing more than to attend a gala but I see no way to do it."

"I could help," Trevor offered with an almost genuine smile.

"Thank you Trevor but you are a man and what little you may know about practices of beauty I dare not trust enough to get me through an evening in company," she laughed.

"You underestimate me Miss Elena," he chuckled, lifting the basket that remained unnoticed till now. Trevor lifted the cloth that covered it. "I came prepared."

"I still don't see what possesses you to think I will agree to this all," Elena pulled a small vile out of the basket and opened it, "That smells divine," she inhaled deeply.

"Perhaps you trust me a little more now?" the not so young man smiled.

"Not a chance," Elena snatched the basket and ran for the door of the small cottage. Trevor chased her, stopping at the threshold. As soon as Elena could no longer hear his feet pounding behind her she stopped and turned. "Would you like to come in?"

"I would love to," he said honestly, not knowing if he could indeed enter. Rental lodgings were not as cut and dry as private dwellings. Hit foot passed the wood and he smiled.

"What is all this?" she placed the basket on a bench.

"A few things that can't be procured at short notice," Trevor pulled out a bottle of perfume and held it up for Elena to see. She studied the pretty purple bottle. It looked as though it were crafted from diamonds. Trevor squeezed the small pump, dispersing a fine mist.

"That's incredible," Elena closed her eyes as she inhaled.

"The oil is for your hair," Trevor took the other container out of her hand and shook it a little, "I have perfumed soap as well."

"Trying to turn me into a bouquet Trevor?" Elena laughed. Her friend seemed less in his own head.

"I like your humour Miss Elena," the young man said sincerely. It was almost childlike. Having interacted with so many vampires Trevor had grown accustomed to the dry, sometimes dark humour that came with centuries of life. The innocence of Elena was refreshing.

"Please stop calling me that," she touched his hand, "We're friends, aren't we?" she looked at him with these big, hopeful eyes.

"Yes _Elena_, we are," he matched the brightness of her smile, "Would you like me to braid your hair?"

"Make fun, why don't you?" she slapped his shoulder.

"Here," he pulled a black cloth tied with a piece of string out of the basket and opened it. Inside was a necklace and matching earrings.

"I couldn't possibly," tears sprang to Elena's eyes. Trevor took a breath and moved closer to the brown eyed girl.

"There is a nobleman who would like to meet you," he told her. Elena just sat there gaping like a fish, unable to voice all the questions she wanted to ask. "I am to help with the preparations," he stood, "I will pick you up tomorrow evening," he bowed and ducked out. Elena did not move for over an hour, worrying the inn keeper to no end. When she finally got up she went to her room. There she sat, thinking about her father's rules and all the precautions he'd take in this situation. There was no way Grayson Gilbert would have allowed her to go unaccompanied save for Trevor. Her mother would have helped her look the part. Miranda mourned when her daughter was with child. Elena had not been out in society long enough to have experienced many things. There was so much they would never get to do together. Yet again Elena found herself crying. She didn't eat her midday meal and stayed in her room till she was to sup.

Eating alone again made Elena miss home even more. This party would be a good thing. The sooner she made friends here the sooner she could feel like this was her life rather than her punishment. She washed her hair and rubbed some of the oil Trevor had given her through it then braided it. By the time she was done it was late enough for her to go to bed. The entire next day Elena spent scrubbing and trimming and rubbing wonderful smelling things all over herself. The woman who kept the house helped her into her corset, an experience she never enjoyed. The last touch was undoing her braids and separating her hair just enough to give her hair the bouncing curls her brother was never able to keep his hands (or the dirt on them) out of. She put on the jewellery Trevor had provided and even found the studded hair pin he put at the bottom of the basket and used it. Now was not the time to fret about her possible future with some nobleman or the implications thereof. He may not even like her. She just wanted to enjoy herself.

When Trevor arrived at sunset to pick her up his breath was taken away. He wouldn't be the last to have that experience that night.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Fair warning. No proof reading done. My toddler has a rash and is in no mood to put up with a laptop in the bed. (It's midnight in SA).**

"I think I forgot to blow out the candle in my room," Elena turned at the door of the huge, almost castle-like structure.

"I am sure you did not," Trevor smiled, "The sun had not yet set when you left it."

"Are you sure you have not taken a liberty that has not been given to you? Inviting me here," Elena's hand went up to her mouth and then back down. Now was not the time nor the place to start chewing her nails.

"I assure you Elena, I do not bring you here for my own pleasure," Trevor tried to keep his face from falling as he knew it should, "I simply mentioned you in passing and Lord Niklaus expressed his desire to meet you."

Elena gasped and ran back to the carriage, closing the door firmly behind her. For a moment Trevor thought she might have heard of him. He walked after her, not wanting them to turn into any more of a spectacle than they already were. "What is it?" he asked her in that sweet Elena had almost come to forget. There was concern where she had come to expect irritation.

"You said nothing of meeting a Lord," she hissed through the window.

"I thought it implied," Trevor lied. Attending an event in the house of an important man did not in any way mean that you would get a moment of his attention. If only Elena could be so lucky.

"Do not deceive me Trevor, you are my only friend. If I cannot trust you to be forthright with me I fear I will not trust anyone," she struck his heart. He was practically leading her to a slaughterhouse.

"I feared you would not come," he told her, "And if I did not bring you I feared there would be trouble for myself and Rose. Lord Niklaus is wrathful man," he whispered at the end there.

"Then you only need have asked," she said with a look so earnest Trevor felt his heart would break. Elena opened the door and stepped outside. There was a look of pure amazement on Trevor's face as he offered her his hand and helped her down.

"You would brave the company of this man for one who is nearly a stranger to you?" Trevor studied her closely. Perhaps there was some grace of heaven hidden in this young lady that would be revealed on closer inspection.

"You are not a stranger to me," Elena stood and looked Trevor in the eye, "You are my friend and I try not to let you down," she started for the manor.

"Wait," the word slipped from the vampire's mouth before he could stop it, "Perhaps you did leave that candle aflame." He did not want to deliver someone so pure into the hands of one so wicked.

"Come now Trevor," Elena put on her brave face, "You need not fear for me. I can stand to be in the company of a man for a few moments. He will grow bored of talking to one woman soon enough and I can retire early."

"Elena," Trevor said in a strained voice.

"What is the matter?" she stopped and turned to him once more, worry showing on her face.

"Nothing," he shook his head with a painful smile. Elena knew that smile. It was most definitely not nothing. "Allow me to introduce you to Rose," he gestured with his hand to a person now behind Elena. The girl jumped a little as she turned to find Rose there.

"I apologise. I did not hear your approach," she explained.

"This is Elena," Trevor told his friend. The women curtsied and smiled.

"Please, go inside," Rose said with the slightest emphasis to warn Trevor against deviating from his part in what was to happen here. Elena closed her eyes, took as deep a breath as her corset allowed and let it out then walked forward with quivering determination. That was the first moment Elena took root on a soft spot in Trevor's heart. She would not leave it for a long time. They walked into the ballroom in silence.

"I won't be a moment," Trevor said as he departed to look for Elijah.

"You're not going to leave me here, are you?" Elena suddenly looked frightened. As well she should, not at the prospect of being left alone for a few moments among strangers but how was she to know of the greater dangers when no one warned her.

"I will return before you notice my absence," Trevor promised. Elena looked at the wall, wishfully thinking she could forget the throng of people milling about and pretend she was here with her new friend. They had been standing a short distance from Elijah and Trevor quickly found him.

"Ah good evening Trevor," the nobleman greeted, "I am pleased you could join us."

"I could not miss the birthday celebration," Trevor replied cordially. He was here because he could not get out of it, not because he wanted to be part of any of this but he feared Elijah too much to give him cheek.

"No, considering the gift you claim to bear," the barest bit of menace crept into Elijah's demeanor, "Where is this mystery girl of which you speak?"

"Right this way," Trevor tilted slightly in the direction from whence he came then turned to lead and Elijah followed. "My dear," Trevor touched Elena's shoulder and she turned.

"Hello," she smiled. Her smile quickly waned as she saw the shock and recognition on Elijah's face. Could he have been an acquaintance of her father's at some point?

"Forgive me," Elijah apologised for whatever look he was giving this girl that was obviously frightening her, "You remind me of someone."

This exchange was not lost on Trevor but he didn't know what to make of it. "Elena, allow me to introduce the Lord Elijah," he chimed in, hoping to interrupt Elena's discomfort. She gasped slightly. Yet another person rank Trevor had neglected to mention. Elijah offered his hand, wishing to touch her, to know that she was real. Elena put her hand in his.

"Pleasure, my lord," she curtsied, barely feeling his cool touch for all her nerves.

"Pleasure's mine," Elijah brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, feeling her warmth tingle though him from that spot, "Elena," she used her name in an effort to remind himself that this was not his... This was not Tatia but still... "Is it your intention to hover?" he looked over at Trevor.

"I shall leave you," Trevor bowed and gave a smile to Elena that made her believe someone had stuck exposed blades inside his jacket.

"How do you do my Lord," she asked with a tentative smile.

"Very well," Elijah let their hands drop and slowly let hers slip out of her fingers. Maybe this was Tatia, reformed with no knowledge of her former self for sure but maybe a doppleganger was essentially the same person at another time. "How do you fair."

"Not as well," she let slip, "My friend has deceived me about who I would be meeting," she covered.

"You are here to meet my brother," Elijah reminded himself, "This is his affair." He took two wine glasses and offered the other to Elena.

"No thank you," she decline the drink, there was no need to add alcohol to her addled brain, "And where is this mysterious host?" she asked. This gathering was making her nervous and she desired to have the hard parts of it over with.

"Fashionable late," Elijah answered, "He likes to make an entrance," he turned just in time to spot his brother coming down the stairs, "Here he is," he gestured with his hand, causing Elena to turn as well. Lord Niklaus made his way through the crowd slowly, greeting some as he went. They parted before him like the Red Sea without him ever having to ask. An entrance indeed. Elena's breath caught in her throat as she watched him approach. While she knew Elijah was a lord, there was something humble in the way he handle himself. Niklaus was the opposite. There was an arrogance to him that was clear even as he walked in silence.

"Elena, may I introduce to you the Lord Niklaus," Elijah spoke, looking at the young woman who seemed already so enthralled with his brother. Elena curtsied, unable to find her voice.

"Niklaus is the name my father gave me," he took her hand, "Please, call me Klaus," he smiled. She smiled back. As arrogant as Lord Niklaus obviously was, he was casual and that eased her slightly. "From where have you come?" he asked her.

"America," her tongue got ahead of her again.

"The new world," Klaus smiled, he was inching closer to a valuable piece of information.

"Some say," Elena became bolder, "To me, this world is knew."

"Do you mind brother? I would like a moment alone with her," Klaus was not able to settle himself. The way Elijah was studying this girl could turn into trouble if not checked. He did not need his brother to turn against him when it came time to sacrifice her. He'd made peace with the fact that his mother wanted him to kill the woman he had once thought of as the reason for his existence in order to come into his own. Elijah was not as invested.

Elena's heart picked up as she was led away. He found a quiet corner where they could talk. He could easily manipulate the naïve Elena. "I wish to be near you this entire evening," he lied, he wanted to detach himself from her as much as he could, "But it would be rude of me to ignore my guests."

"I understand," Elena was relieved.

"I wish to see you tomorrow," Klaus smiled coyly, "Forgive me for being bold but I am quite enchanted."

Elena looked at the floor. She had been spoken to this way before. She was not about to be duped again. "Is it too bold for me to ask to meet your father?" Klaus cut to the chase.

"I no longer have a father," she said sadly. Klaus heard what she did not say, that he was dead. This girl was banished here for some reason so she would not disclose to him the location of her family. "I came to England to escape the tragic death parting of my entire family in a fire."

"I am sorry to hear that," Klaus offered in practised politeness, "I wish to hear all about you," he smiled, "For tonight I shall return you to the company of your friend. I shall call on you in the morning," he led her to Trevor.

"Take me home," she said once she thought Klaus was out of earshot.

"Is something the matter?" Trevor asked her once they were outside.

"No," she lied, "I tire easily."

"Let us go," Trevor opened the carriage and helped her inside, fearing that if they stayed one second longer whatever miracle that kept Klaus from killing Elena would be reversed. As for Elena, if she had learned one thing from deceiving people about being an orphan it was that the disclosure of it reduced the atmosphere to dreary thing. People would react with sympathy, pity, shock, a wide variety of uncomfortable emotions. Never before Niklaus had someone smirked. There was something about the man she did not trust.

Rebekah threw a crystal at the wall in her upstairs bedroom heartbroken fury. Just as their family was starting to get on so well _she_ reappeared. "Damn you," she spat after Elena's carriage.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: This is way, way, way overdue. I apologise for that and I apologise for any errors. I'm not exactly sober right now. The next update will probably come in December: it's exam time. Please review. It might change matters. An insistent reviewer is why I wrote this one. My booze addled brain can't recall her/his name. I hope you enjoy.**

"Miss Elena," a knock came on the door, "There is a gentleman caller for you."

"I'll be right down," she assumed it was Trevor. She had been staring at the wall unseeingly for half the morning. Repeatedly, she swore to herself that she would not wallow. That was easier to keep to when there was someone else around. She held her dress as she ran down the stairs. "Trevor," she smiled as she stepped into the blinding sunlight.

"I apologise for disappointing you Miss Elena," Elijah gave her a small smile back.

"Lord Elijah," she curtsied, sheepish, "I apologise, my Lord," she curtsied again, her heart quickening, "My eyes were not yet accustomed to the light."

"It's quite alright," he assured, "How do you do today?"

"Very well, thank you," Elena's eyes flickered up to Elijah's then to her feet, "How do you do my Lord?" she gave him a tentative smile.

"I am well," he gave her a lopsided smile. There was awkward silence in which their eyes met and Elena looked away.

"I would have dressed more appropriately, had I been made aware of your visit," she smoothed her dress self-consciously.

"Your beauty shines on its own," he waved dismissively. Elena's cheeks turned pink. Her mouth opened but no words came out. "Forgive my being so bold," the nobleman reigned himself in. This girl did not know him and he did not know her. She was shy for one thing, a quality Tatia was not burdened by. You could not have and keep a child out of wedlock and be a wallflower. "My brother sent this for you," he opened the velvet box they had neglected till now.

"I couldn't," she gasped. Inside the box was a beautiful hair pin. With green and red stones in the intricately formed handle.

"It is forward, I know," Elijah sounded indulgent, "My brother lives by no one's rules but his own."

"Well I live by those of society and your brother, my lord, is being presumptuous," she curtsied, said, "Good day," and turned to leave.

"Miss Elena," he cut in front of her. She blinked for a moment, shocked he was that fast. "Please walk with me," he pointed towards the garden, "Shall I get your chaperone?"

"Let us take yours," she caved, not wanting to be rude. Why wouldn't this man just leave? Elijah waved over a man from the his carriage.

"My Lord," the man bowed.

"Miss Elena and I are going to walk through the garden," his liege told him. The man nodded. The Lord and his company walked. The chaperone walked behind them, just out of hearing range.

"Your grace will forgive my boldness, as I have forgiven his, but why is this the task of a nobleman?" Elena asked without looking at him.

"It is not," Elijah gave, "It is the task of a man who loves his brother and wants to see him happy." It was true. It was true in a way that Elena could not fully comprehend but it was also true in a way that she could. She would do whatever it took to make her brother happy, up to and including being exiled to the old world so he could keep his family's honour. Still...

"Why do you think I can make your brother happy?" she asked him, "He cannot love me after brief conversation."

"Love is not all that makes people happy," the noble was surprised to hear himself say, "It brings more pain than anything else but marriage can make a man content."

"Is that all there is?" she asked, genuinely wanting to know if that was the best one could expect of life.

"What more would you ask for?" he wanted to know. Elena was not Tatia but she was intriguing in an completely different way, an innocent way.

"Love, my lord," she responded, more honest than she had been in a long time, "Life is too cruel," she thought of her own, "Without love, why would we want to live?"

"Loyalty," he answered easily. It was what gave his life purpose. Loyalty to a brother that had been betrayed before he was born and had been tortured ever since.

"Does that not come out of love?" she looked up at him with big doe eyes.

"It does," he admitted, "Not romance," he clarified, "Love. Honour. Family."

"You are a true believer," she noted, not having meant to do it out loud.

"You seem not to be," he searched her face.

"What would I have to believe in, my lord?" she honestly wanted someone to tell her, "I lost my family, your brother is trying to take my honour and I am too young to know anything of love."

"Perhaps you could learn to love," Elijah did not specify _who _she could learn to love. A man could hope, even a noble man.

"Perhaps," she knelt in the garden, in front of a rose bush. "My mother once told me that love was like a rose bud," she was glad and sad to speak of the most important woman in her life, or out of it, "She said a man courts you in order to let it grow. Do you believe so?" she cupped one in her hands.

"That love is a rose bud or that a man courts you in order to allow it to grow?" he knelt by her.

"Don't they go hand in hand?" she laughed.

"I suppose those principles do," he felt himself laugh too. "Take this," he picked a rose, "It is an appropriate sentiment."

"It is not your brother's sentiment," she pointed out.

"He believes as I believe," Elijah told her, "It is mine, so it is his."

"Do not take this the wrong way," Elena started, "But you do not seem like a Lord, or at least not any that I have met. You seem like..."

"A human being?" Elijah laughed. "We seem inhuman, I know. It comes from the composure we are taught."

"Why did you abandon yours?" she asked him, "You have just told me that you were not taught to behave as you just have."

"I was human once," he confessed, again, more than she could understand, "I lived and laughed and loved the way all humans do. Take the rose, my lady. My brother will respect the gesture and perhaps this romance may yet work."

"I thought you did not believe in romance," she found herself teasing him.

"I never said any such thing," he blushed. God! When last did that happen. "I just said... love did not necessarily have to stem from it."

"Forgive me but you are a liar," she smiled at him, "You are romantic. Why are you not married? You are a nobleman, a handsome man and a good man. I do not understand."

"I am not married because I am romantic," he told her, "I loved once, when I was young and she died. I do not have it in me to hope."

"Perhaps you should learn," she gave him a rose bud.

"If I take this will you accept mine?" he wrapped his hand around hers, around her warm, soft hand.

"Yes," she nodded. Accepting a flower was not the same as accepting a proposal. Elijah took her bud. He put it in his jacket, by his heart.

"Oh God," Trevor exclaimed as he turned back.

"Trevor," Elena stood, "Come sit with us."

"No, my lady, I cannot," he turned to her.

"Do not be silly," she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the spot by the garden. "Lord Elijah, You remember Trevor."

"I do," Elijah gave a cold look. He did not want this moment shared or interrupted.

"My Lord," he bowed. Elena watched in sad silence as Trevor departed. She wondered what he had brought her: not in the way of materials, in the way of gossip about the party and fun and friendship. No more surprises was a bit much to ask. "I must return," she said with regret.

"Of course," Elijah nodded.

"I have a question," she whispered as they walked back. She looked to her companion to see if he was willing to answer. He seemed impassive but she went ahead because it was important. "Why do you scare my friend."

"It is not my intention and I have no idea," he lied. She could not read him, she did not know. He took her hand when he they were before her house and his carriage.

"Pleasure, my lord," she curtsied.

"The pleasure's mine," he bowed and went back to his carriage. Elijah departed enchanted, not by Elena's looks but by her. Elena went looking for Trevor. He was gone and she was left confused. Elijah, she was sure, was noble not just in blood but in spirit. So why then did her dear friend fear him so? What more was there to this story? How much more could there be and did she want to know? And why did everyone call her "my lady"?

**Suggest, criticise, whatever. I'll take it under advisement.**


End file.
